An hourly rate calculator for freelancers and the self-employed. Get a market rate range from real government wage data, then work out your own break-even rate from your income goal. Free, and no signup needed.
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Use this rate on your next job. It applies the same whether you are sending a quote before the work or an invoice after.
This is a planning reference tool, not tax, legal, or financial advice. Figures are estimates.
Pricing your own time is hard because there is no boss handing you a salary band. This tool gives you two reference points instead of a single made-up figure. The first is what the market pays people in your line of work. The second is what you personally need to charge to hit your income goal. Read them together and you have a sensible range to price inside.
An hourly range for your profession and state, pulled from U.S. government wage data. It tells you what the work is worth in your area.
The hourly rate you need so your income goal survives self-employment tax, unpaid admin time, and business expenses.
Take the number straight into a quote before the job or an invoice after it, with our free generators.
The market range uses the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, the government's annual survey of wages by occupation and state. We map your experience level to wage percentiles: new to the 25th, experienced to the median, and expert to the upper quartile.
One important caveat, and the reason this tool does not stop at the market number: that survey covers employees and leaves out self-employed workers. So the figure is a solid anchor for what the work is worth, but as a freelancer you usually need to charge more than an employee earns, because you are also covering your own taxes, downtime, tools, and overhead. That is exactly what the break-even rate below accounts for.
Your break-even rate is the floor you can charge without going backwards on your income goal. The math is straightforward:
We use the current U.S. combined Social Security and Medicare self-employment tax rate of 15.3% as the default, published by the IRS. The billable-hours and business-expense figures start from a Solo or Small team preset, and you can change both under "Adjust assumptions" to match your own situation.
Freelancers reach for a freelance hourly rate calculator to answer one question: what should I charge per hour? This tool answers it two ways at once. It shows a market rate range built from real government wage data for your kind of work and your location, and it shows your own break-even rate from your income goal, billable hours, and expenses. Set your rate somewhere between the two: at or above your break-even so the numbers work, and near the market range so you stay competitive. It is a freelance hourly rate calculator grounded in real data, not a round number someone guessed.
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Once you have a rate, the profit margin calculator checks whether a given job actually clears it. Driving for work is a deduction that quietly raises your effective rate, and the mileage deduction calculator prices it.
Every trade bills differently. See how Billbooks fits yours:
Several small jobs a day, labor and materials on one invoice.
Deposits, materials markup, and job line items, handled right.
Keep the diagnostic fee separate from the repair cost.
Progress billing, retainage, and change orders.
Labor and parts priced right, plus a fair shop supply fee.
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